Every credit card has a list of exclusions. This list tells you which payments won’t earn you cashback, miles, or other rewards. Common exclusions include government fees, insurance premiums, and income taxes. However, there are a few ways to earn miles on these commonly excluded items.
There are two methods:
- Direct Payment
- Indirect Payment
1. Direct Payment via AXS Bills
Bill payments with Chocolate Debit Card will continue to earn miles, but do note that this will be capped at 100 miles per month
Bill payments refer to transactions under the following MCCs:
- 80 Medical & Health (MCC 8011–8099)
- 93 Government Services (MCC 9311–9399)
- 49 Utilities (MCC 4900–4999)
- 65 Real Estate & Property Management (MCC 6513, 6531)
- 63 Insurance (MCC 6300–6399)
- 73 Business Services (MCC 7311–7399)
For avoidance of doubt, you will not be able to use this card to pay for loans or credit card bills via AXS to earn miles.
How to claim (tap to expand)
- Download the app from the App Store or Google Play
- Copy the referral code above and enter into the app when prompted
- Sign up with your details
2. Indirect Payment – Use CardUp/iPayMy to Earn Rewards
Even though you should always use the Choc Visa Debit Card first, you can only spend up to S$1,000 per calendar month to earn 1 mile per dollar. This is where we need this method.
CardUp/iPayMy, a third-party service, is one such service that allows you to pay anything that is usually excluded like renovation payments, income tax etc with your credit card and earn rewards like cashback or miles by paying a small fee.
Who is this for:
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- Those who want to claim business class flights because it may not be worthwhile for economy flights
Here’s how it works:
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- CardUp charges your credit card for the tax amount + a fee.
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- They handle the bank transfer to the company’s business account for you.
Sample Computation:
Say, you pay for a S$1,000 transaction, if there is a 2% admin fee charged by Cardup, and you are using the OCBC 90N Visa with earn rate of 1.3 miles per dollar.
To get the cost per mile:
(amount x admin fee)
amount x (1 + admin fee) x earn rate
S$1,000 x 0.02 = S$20 service fee
S$1,000 x (1+0.02) x 1.3 miles per dollar = 1,326 miles
= 20/1,326 = 0.015 cost per mile
You will be getting 1,326 miles with a S$20 service fee payment, on top of your original S$1,000 transaction.
Beyond 1.50 cents per mile, it might not be worth using Cardup, in my humble opinion.
How to maximise your rewards as a first time user:
Maximise your first transaction with these promo codes:
For example, if your transaction is S$3,000, break the payment into two via each platform.
- Cardup: use code “LOBANGSIS” if you have large payments, to get discounted 1.79% fee on up to S$5K on your first payment with a Visa card
- iPayMy: Sign up with www.lobangsis.com/ipaymy for an account to get S$30 off (optimal payment: S$1,250)
Afterwhich, you can leverage on the existing time-sensitive promotions which i will share in my telegram channel if there is a good deal.
Update:
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- Effective November 1, 2024, CardUp will impose restrictions on certain loan repayments. UnionPay cards will no longer be accepted for both personal and business loan repayments, including mortgages, car loans, and education loans. Visa cards, on the other hand, will only be restricted for business loan repayments.
These cards must be paired with CardUp/iPayMy:
Requirements (tap to expand)
- Must spend S$14,000 within 2 months from card approval date
Requirements (tap to expand)
- You qualify if: you have no DBS/POSB credit card right now, AND haven't cancelled any DBS/POSB credit card in the last 12 months
- Enter promo code SINGSAVER during application
- Spend min. S$500 within 30 days of card approval
- SingSaver will email you a Rewards Redemption Form — check inbox (and spam folder) after applying. Fill it in within 14 days to claim your gift, or you'll lose it.
Requirements (tap to expand)
- Eligible for new main Citi Cardmembers only (no existing Citi card, no Citi card closed in the past 12 months)
- Spend S$800 in the first 2 months of card approval
- Pick Tier 1 OR Tier 2 at application — only one Welcome Gift per applicant
Requirements (tap to expand)
- You qualify if: you have no Citibank credit card right now
- Spend min. S$500 within 30 days of card approval
- SingSaver will email you a Rewards Redemption Form — check inbox (and spam folder) after applying. Fill it in within 14 days to claim your gift, or you'll lose it.
Requirements (tap to expand)
- You qualify if: you have no OCBC credit card right now
- Spend min. S$400 within 30 days of card approval
- SingSaver will email you a Rewards Redemption Form — check inbox (and spam folder) after applying. Fill it in within 14 days to claim your gift, or you'll lose it.
How to pay your payments with your credit card:
- Sign Up for an account
2. Schedule a payment by selecting the relevant category
3. Select the recipient, you have two options:
- pre-loaded providers – if your merchant is on the list, click them directly
- add new recipient – if your merchant is not listed
4. Fill out details such as payment amount, choose the card and select “Standard payment”
5. Make a monthly recurring payment or one-time payment.
6. Key in your policy reference number, enter promo code below and click “Continue“
• For new users, use code “LOBANGSIS“ if you have large payments to get discounted 1.79% fee on up to S$5K on your first payment with a Visa card
For existing users, see above
After all that, you’re good to go!
*Some photos and Information are from cardup.co
Final Thoughts:
If you are a miles chaser, you can go for the UOB Priv Miles Card via CardUp for recurring payments because this is an entry level miles card with the lowest cost per mile at the moment. However, the miles do expire. Alternatively, for one-off payments, you could go with OCBC 90N Visa or Mastercard.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
